John Hansen and Stuart Irwin of KPMG were confirmed yesterday as  joint administrators of Lagan Construction Group Holdings Limited, Lagan Construction Group Limited, Lagan Water Limited and Lagan Building Contractors Limited.

They said they are not trading “while they assess the position and options for the companies”.

KPMG added: “It is likely that this process will take a number of days and in the interim most of the 200-plus workforce have been asked not to attend for work whilst this assessment is ongoing.

“The joint administrators realise that this period of uncertainty is very difficult for all employees and stakeholders of the companies and the joint administrators are endeavouring to complete their assessment as quickly as possible.”

Lagan announced the administration of four of its 30 companies last month after parts of the group were hit by delays in the commencement of new projects and protracted contractual disputes on some existing major projects.

A key problem job was the joint venture with Ferrovial on the M8 in Scotland.

Ferrovial made a £48m loss on the job last year.